Frank Ocean is one of the growing number of artists who are promising to do things their own way. From releasing his visual album Endless last year as a way to get back at his record label, to making millions of dollars in revenue from going independent, Frank is not one to lie down and take instructions or orders from anyone, especially those who organise the Grammys.

Back in October it came to light that, Ocean’s 2016 albums Endless and Blonde were not eligible for Grammy awards due to Ocean having missed the deadline in which they should be submitted for consideration. The next month though, Ocean stated that this was an intentional move on his part, stating that he believes that “the infrastructure of the awarding system and the nomination system and screening system is dated”, and that he was using his non-submission as a form of protest against the awards.

Speaking to Rolling Stone recently, Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich, and writer David Wild, stated that Ocean’s 2013 Grammys performance may have left Frank with a bad taste in his mouth. Claiming that his 2013 performance was ‘rigid’, ‘faulty’, and ‘not great television’, the two spoke in length about how frequent discussions with Ocean did not persuade him to change his mind about his style or performing that year, saying that the poor performance was completely due to Ocean’s attitude.

Now, Frank Ocean has taken to his Tumblr blog to address the claims made by Ehrlich and Wild about his 2013 performance.

“Ok Ken (and David),” the artist began. “As much as I hate to make you guys famous or even respond to you directly. We all die one day and you’re old so fuck it. Yea yea my 2013 performance at the Grammys was absolute shit. Technical difficulties, blah blah. Thanks for the reminder. Very much appreciated. Fuck that performance though. You think that’s why I kept my work out of the Grammy process this year? Don’t you think I would’ve wanted to play the show to ‘redeem’ myself if I felt that way? In reality, I actually wanted to participate in honoring Prince on the show but then I figured my best tribute to that man’s legacy would be to continue to be myself out here and to be successful.”

“Winning a TV award doesn’t christen me successful. It took me some time to learn that. I bought all my masters back last year in the prime of my career, that’s successful. Blonde sold a million plus without a label, that’s successful. I am young, black, gifted and independent… that’s my tribute. I’ve actually been tuning into CBS around this time of year for a while to see who gets the top honor and you know what’s really not ‘great TV’ guys? [Taylor Swift’s] 1989 getting album of the year over [Kendrick Lamar’s] To Pimp A Butterfly. Hands down one of the most ‘faulty’ TV moments I’ve seen.”

“Believe the people. Believe the ones who’d rather watch select performances from your program on YouTube the day after because your show puts them to sleep. Use the old gramophone to actually listen bro, I’m one of the best alive. And if you’re up for a discussion about the cultural bias and general nerve damage the show you produce suffers from then I’m all for it. Have a good night.”

Ehrlich and Wild are yet to respond to Frank Ocean’s response, but you can be sure that Frank Ocean will have an eloquent reply for that one as well. In the meantime, reacquaint yourself with Ocean’s 2013 Grammys performance of ‘Forrest Gump’ below.

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